Secret softie: the cold truth is Gillard's warmth couldn't be conveyed to voters
Date
July 1, 2013
Nicholas Reece
Julia Gillard, PM, was good humoured, warm, smart, dignified and down to earth. So what went wrong?
The cruellest irony of Julia Gillard's political career must surely be the chasm that existed between public perceptions of the first female prime minister and the views of those who worked with her closely.
To those who knew her at a personal level, as I did, she was regarded as warm, good-humoured, dignified, hard-working and courageous.
But as pollsters and shock jocks regularly reminded us, among much of the population she was viewed as a godless, childless, unmarried, lying, backstabbing witch.
To understand this brutal disjuncture, a balanced appraisal is needed of Gillard's ability as a politician and her period as prime minister.
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Gillard is one of the best close-quarters politicians the Federal Parliament has ever seen.
As prime minister, she ran a disciplined, professional office that operated in much the same way as a well-run law firm - a product of her early career at Slater & Gordon.
Cabinet process was strictly upheld and the massive flow of administrative and policy paperwork that moves between government departments, the prime minister's office and the prime minister's desk was dealt with efficiently.
There was courtesy shown to staff, MPs, public servants and stakeholders - every person entitled to a view was given a chance to express it before a decision was made.
Gillard would diligently work her way through the detail of an issue and then patiently execute an agreed plan to tackle it.
She was generous with her time and did not rush people in the way busy leaders often do. She was never rude and never raised her voice, unless for humorous purposes.
She had a quick mind and could master a brief at lightning speed. She was a masterful parliamentary tactician and a brilliant analyst of the day's events and the politics of the Labor caucus. She was a genuinely affectionate person and had a quick wit that could be deployed to lift the spirits of those around her.
At her instigation, birthdays were the subject of office celebration. This would involve Gillard turning up for cake and delivering a very personal speech to even the most junior staff.
Significantly for a national leader, Gillard had no major personality defects. She is probably the most normal, down-to-earth person to have served as prime minister of Australia in the modern era.
In a crisis, she was supremely calm. While others wilted, Gillard had a resilience that allowed her to keep stepping up to the plate.
She was good at remembering people's names, knowing their story, understanding their motivations and being able to see a situation from another's perspective.
These were attributes that were very well suited to the fraught circumstances of the 43rd Parliament.
In the negotiations with the crossbench MPs to form government, Gillard easily outmanoeuvred Tony Abbott. She better understood the independents' motivations - she focused on the detail of how the relationship between government and the crossbenches would work and committed to serving the full term.
The achievements include: the national broadband network, putting a price on carbon, education reform, children's dental care and the national disability insurance scheme.
In federal-state relations, there was the negotiation of health reform with the conservative premiers and in foreign affairs there was a strengthening of relations with our major partners, particularly China and the US.
Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that Gillard was well-liked, even loved, among her staff, the public service and most of her caucus.
So why did public opinion run so strongly against Gillard?
The first problem was the way she became prime minister. The change came as a complete shock to most Australians. At the time, there was no proper explanation of the reasons for this change. When it came, it was too late.
The events of June 2010 also sparked a long-running war against Gillard, prosecuted from inside the Labor caucus. Beginning with the leaks during the 2010 election campaign, it managed to rear up and stymie her.
One consequence of this was the hung parliament. The constant deal-making to pass legislation was a steady drain on her political capital.
Then there was the carbon tax. The government won the policy debate but Abbott won the political debate.
A further problem was the unrelenting storm of issues that arose through a combination of bad luck and what Gillard's enemies described as a lack of judgment.
Finally, there is the issue of Gillard's communication skills: she was highly engaging in close quarters and confident in the Parliament but this did not seem to translate effectively through the electronic media.
The feistiness of her media performances as deputy prime minister was replaced by a formality that seemed strained and did not connect with the audience. As a consequence, controversies were harder to shake off and the government's message was often not being heard.
Gender issues did make Gillard's job harder - there are still sections of the population that struggle to find an appropriate template for relating to female leaders. But gender is also one reason why Gillard will be long remembered.
I got an insight into this once while I was watching Gillard on TV while waiting for a plane.
A family was next to me and the father started talking at the same time as Gillard.
''Shhh,'' said the mother, signalling to their young daughter. ''Sharni is listening to the PM - that could be her one day.''
We were watching a migrant girl from Adelaide who had made it to the top job in Australia - and inspired millions of young girls to think about whether they could do the same.
Nicholas Reece worked in Julia Gillard's office from 2010 to last year. He is a public policy fellow at the Centre for Public Policy at Melbourne University.
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